2026 Kia Sportage Recalls & Complaints

Incident: September 6, 2026 · Filed: September 16, 2026

The contact owns a 2026 Kia Sportage. The contact stated that his wife had driven for 6.5 hours at 35-70 MPH with the seat heater activated, the seat heater overheated. Upon exiting the vehicle, the driver discovered second-degree burns on her right thigh and significant bruising extending from her left thigh to her buttocks. The contact stated that the failure had occurred while the contact and wife were traveling on a 6.5 hours trip. The contact's wife received medical treatment for the injuries. The manufacturer was contacted by phone and a case was filed. The failure mileage was approximately 14,223.

Incident: August 1, 2026 · Filed: August 28, 2026

Wiring harness keeps getting chewed up by rodents in engine bay. Had to have Kia fix 2 times for the parking distance sensors. Have done lots of prevention things to keep from engine bay, but attracted to this vehicle. My 2 other vehicles no problems. They are not Kias. It causes loss of driver assistance systems.

Incident: August 3, 2026 · Filed: August 5, 2026

Occurred on 8/3/2026: 1. I parked my car in my driveway 2. My car is sitting in the driver door storage area and my phone with digital key is sitting on the front passenger seat. 3. Vehicle is turned off; I exit the vehicle and close the door. 4. My toddler is the back seat (not on the driver side), so i start to walk over to take her out. 5. In the meantime, the car locks itself. 6. I walk back to driver door and it is locked as well. This was serious and immediate issue as the ambient temperature was 92 degrees F and car at this point has no circulation. Luckily I was at home so was able to hurry and grab my second key from home to unlock the car. It all took about 5 min and by the time I was able to get her out, she was sweating.

Incident: July 22, 2026 · Filed: July 28, 2026

While adaptive cruise was engaged, the vehicle read Alabama highway 80 west state road sign and incorrectly interpreted the sign for a speed limit sign which is 55 MPH.The vehicle displayed a “80 MPH” speed limit sign on the instrument cluster and then began to accelerate. When I took it to the dealer for repair, the “turned off safety feature”.

Incident: July 25, 2026 · Filed: July 27, 2026

The contact owns a 2026 Kia Sportage equipped with Kumho Tires, Tire Line: Crugen HP71, Tire Size: 235/60/R18, DOT Number: 1K2CMYA8E . While the contact’s daughter was driving approximately 75 MPH, the vehicle suddenly started shaking violently and vibrated abnormally, causing the driver to almost lose control of the steering wheel. The driver regained control of the steering wheel and parked the vehicle. The Police and a towing service was called to the scene. Upon inspection, it was discovered that the front passenger’s side tire had tread separation at the center of the tire, causing the center rim of the wheel to be exposed and caused damages to the wheel well and fender. The vehicle was later towed to the residence. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The vehicle manufacturer and rental car company were notified of the failure. The tire manufacturer was not yet contacted. The failure mileage was 3,900.

Incident: July 1, 2026 · Filed: July 15, 2026

I was driving on the freeway, when all of a sudden my car felt like it was driving on its own. It began jerking, rapidly accelerating causing the rpm to go up on its own, and causing the engine to rev. It alternated between accelerating and braking. I pulled off to the side and had it towed to the dealership I lease it from. The dealership drove it and the same thing happened. They said it was stuck in 2nd gear, so they have to completely replace the transmission. There were absolutely no warning lights or messages prior to this occurrence. It happened during rush hour so there were a lot of cars out, and I felt as if I lost control of my car. I also had to pull off to the side of an off ramp as I was attempting to get off at an exit to go to work.

Incident: January 26, 2026 · Filed: July 15, 2026

Odometer Fraud. The contact owns a 2026 Kia Sportage. The contact stated that after purchasing the vehicle, it was determined that there was a mileage discrepancy. At the time of the purchase, the mileage was 0. The vehicle was a dealer sale. The document from the dealer indicated that the mileage was 488. The vehicle was a used rental vehicle prior to the purchase. The contact determined that the actual mileage was 1,060. The contact called the attorney general and Penn DOT regarding odometer fraud.

Incident: July 11, 2026 · Filed: July 11, 2026

Car does not unlock with keyless key fob. This is too often an issues to overlook. Car will just keep locking and eventually nothing. I have been stuck outside in thunderstorms, a huge safety concern, rain, snow and uncomfortable situations. This causes me to be more soaked, wetting the car and fishing out my keys getting items inside wet. Key is mostly in pocket because its a keyless entry car, or in backpack. 2023 was superior.

Incident: May 29, 2026 · Filed: July 7, 2026

My car had begun to accelerate when pressing the brake pedal. The first time it happened the car kinda stuttered as it fought itself, but the car stopped. That was also the only time it stuttered and corrected itself. The next few times it happened, the car was not as easy to control but was able to stop safely. I took the car in to the dealer to have it checked, but the problem could not be replicated. I even told the dealer the date and time of one of the events and they weren't able to do anything with that information. Just hours after I picked up the car from the dealer, it happened again. Only my daughter was driving and the car just took off as she was braking. She wasn't able to stop it, and the fail-safes that are supposed to avoid accidents and force the car to stop never kicked in. We rear-ended someone not going very fast since she was far away from them when she began to brake. But since the car started accelerating, it was enough force to have both airbags deploy and wreck the car. Kia Corporate requested that we send the ACU to them, but when no one was available who could do that, they said their hands were tied and wished me well. The insurance company offered to have them send someone qualified to pick it up, but they just washed their hands of the entire case. My case # with Kia is 26150176. Had this been the only car affected, I would be less concerned... but my husband's 2025 Sportage SX-Prestige has also been having the same issue and also has an open case with Kia Corporate. He's just had better luck in stopping the car once it takes off. And the dealer looked over it and tried replicating the issue in his car too with no luck. His case # with Kia is 26150395. The strange thing though is that this issue started happening to both cars very suddenly. I had had my car for 9 months before it was totaled, and it only started happening to both cars less than a month before the accident.

Incident: March 31, 2026 · Filed: July 2, 2026

I am reporting two separate safety-related failures on this low-mileage vehicle. The first occurred at 2,431 miles while driving on the highway. The vehicle suddenly lost propulsion and coasted with no throttle response, and multiple warning lights and messages appeared simultaneously, including braking, electronic parking brake, and driver-assistance warnings. A sudden, unexpected loss of power at highway speed creates a serious crash risk, including rear-end collision, particularly with faster or following traffic. The vehicle was taken to an authorized Kia dealer on 3/9/26 and returned on 3/19/26 after wiring/connector-related work. The second failure occurred at 4,658 miles when the panoramic sunroof glass suddenly shattered while the vehicle was in motion. A spontaneous glass failure while driving is a safety hazard: had the interior sunshade been open, falling glass could have struck rear-seat passengers, and shattering glass while driving can cause driver distraction and loss of vehicle control, as well as a road hazard to surrounding vehicles. The vehicle was taken to the same authorized Kia dealer on 4/1/26 and remained there until 5/21/26. The sunroof was not repaired. The dealer's repair order states that it "cannot identify a specific outside object or cause" and that "no damage was found clearly identifying an external object as the cause," which is consistent with a spontaneous glass failure rather than external impact. Despite this, warranty assistance was denied on the basis that an outside impact "could not be ruled out." I am concerned these represent defects involving the panoramic sunroof glass and/or the vehicle's electrical and safety systems. Both failures occurred well under 5,000 miles and within months of each other. Across the two repair visits, the vehicle was out of service for approximately 60 total calendar days, including roughly 50 days for the sunroof issue, which remains unrepaired.